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VIA TMG, MSN, CNN:

Kim Kardashian is sending a very clear message to her haters — and not just through her words. After being bullied and called fat throughout her pregnancy with daughter North, the newly svelte reality star is proudly flaunting her famous curves all over town. On Wednesday, Oct. 30, she filmed an appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” where she showed off her post-baby weight loss in a see-through white-lace dress over a black bra and matching hot pants.

Indeed, Kardashian and fiance Kanye West kept a low profile after the June birth of their baby daughter. But now that the new mom has shed 50 pounds — via the Atkins diet — she’s feeling more confident. Exhibit A? Earlier this month, she shared a super-revealing photo of herself in a skimpy white bathing suit, a picture she describes as her “b”big middle finger to the world.”

Didn’t catch her middle finger in the snapshot? That’s because the picture itself was intended to be a big “F. U.” to those who criticized her weight gain while she was pregnant, the 33-year-old reality star told Jay Leno on Wednesday.

The negative press and mean-spirited commentary while she was pregnant with daughter North “really did affect me,” Kardashian said. “It really hurt my soul, it changed how I am in the public, I think, a little bit. … I was gaining weight because I was pregnant, and it was just really hard to read all these stories and hear all these nasty things.”

Kardashian, who’s in the middle of filming season 9 of her reality show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” added that she came out of that experience wanting to live a more private life.

“I wanted to adjust my life a little bit, because why would I subject myself to so much negativity?” she said. “I just don’t need that energy. I choose to go out with family and friends when I want to but I’ve definitely tried to live a more private life because of that, because they were so nasty, it’s like, why even go out as much just to put yourself in that position.” “It changed how I am in public. I’ve tried to live more of a private life.”

But when she took the sizzling swimsuit photo while trying on clothes in mid-October, she couldn’t resist sharing it with the public.

“I was trying on that bathing suit, and I actually just sent that to my fiancé (Kanye West), and I was like, ‘babe, can I post this up?’ This is my big, middle finger to the world on everyone that called me fat,” Kardashian said with a laugh.

Her post-baby curves were hard-won, though. Losing 50 pounds after North’s June arrival was “the hardest challenge of my life,” she said. “And I was dedicated, and I was motivated, and I did the Atkin’s diet … it’s a newer version now. I remember in college, I would try every single diet with my dad, and we did the Atkin’s diet together and I lost weight and so did he. At the beginning (after giving birth) I couldn’t exercise a whole lot. But then I started going on hikes with different family members, my boyfriend, everyone, and it worked.”